The German carmaker, Volkswagen Group, has halted its investment in a self-driving vehicles project at the software company Argo AI. Volkswagen will not continue to invest in Argo AI, the carmaker, which is based in the western German city of Wolfsburg, announced. Volkswagen and its partner Ford have so far each held a 40 percent stake in Argo AI and had agreed in 2019 on a broad-based joint development of the technology.
VW plans to present a new partner soon for its self-driving shuttles that were previously planned with Argo AI. They are still scheduled to be launched via its mobility subsidiary Moia in Hamburg in 2025, but the company has not yet named the partner. Developing technology for autonomous driving is costly and is also considered risky, as the prospects for success, including possible future profits, are unclear. Argo AI as a company is now likely to be history - Volkswagen said it is working to provide its staff with continued employment.
"Especially in the development of future technologies, focus and speed count," said Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume. "Our goal is to offer our customers the most powerful functions at the earliest possible time and to set up our development as cost-effectively as possible."
Volkswagen had taken a stake in the then Ford subsidiary in 2019 with an investment of 2.6 billion dollars. In addition to 1 billion dollars in financing, VW had also contributed its own subsidiary AID. The plan at the time was for VW to also buy additional shares from Ford worth around 500 million dollars by 2022. With the end of its investment in Argo AI, VW is facing with a further severe damper on its software ambitions.
All other co-operations with Ford will remain in place, VW said. For example, Ford is using VW's MEB electric car kit for its own e-cars. Ford and VW are also jointly developing vehicle models at the subsidiary VW Commercial Vehicles in Hanover.
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